A supersonic molecular beam study of the reaction of tetrakis(dimethylamido)titanium with self-assembled alkyltrichlorosilane monolayers.

The reaction of a transition metal coordination complex, Ti[N(CH(3))(2)](4), with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) possessing-OH, -NH(2), and -CH(3) terminations has been examined using supersonic molecular beam techniques. The emphasis here is on how the reaction probability varies with incident kinetic energy (E(i)=0.4-2.07 eV) and angle of incidence (theta(i)=0 degrees -60 degrees ). The most reactive surface is the substrate underlying the SAMs-SiO(2) with a high density of -OH(a) (>5 x 10(14) cm(-2)), "chemical oxide." On chemical oxide, the dynamics of adsorption are well described by trapping, precursor-mediated adsorption, and the initial probability of adsorption depends only weakly on E(i) and theta(i). The dependence of the reaction probability on substrate temperature is well described by a model involving an intrinsic precursor state, where the barrier for dissociation is approximately 0.2-0.5 eV below the vacuum level. Reaction with the SAMs is more complicated. On the SAM with the unreactive, -CH(3), termination, reactivity decreases continuously with increasing E(i) while increasing with increasing theta(i). The data are best interpreted by a model where the Ti[N(CH(3))(2)](4) must first be trapped on the surface, followed by diffusion through the SAM and reaction at the SAMSiO(2) interface with residual -OH(a). This process is not activated by E(i) and most likely occurs in defective areas of the SAM. On the SAMs with reactive end groups, the situation is quite different. On both the-OH and -NH(2) SAMs, the reaction with the Ti[N(CH(3))(2)](4) as a function of E(i) passes through a minimum near E(i) approximately 1.0 eV. Two explanations for this intriguing finding are made-one involves the participation of a direct dissociation channel at sufficiently high E(i). A second explanation involves a new mechanism for trapping, which could be termed penetration facilitated trapping, where the Ti[N(CH(3))(2)](4) penetrates the near surface layers, a process that is activated as the molecules in the SAM must be displaced from their equilibrium positions.